List of countries by life expectancy

Comparison of male and female life expectancy at birth for countries and territories as defined in the 2013 CIA Factbook, with selected bubbles labelled. The dotted line corresponds to equal female and male life expectancy. The apparent 3D volumes of the bubbles are linearly proportional to their population.[1][2]

Methodology

Life expectancy equals the average number of years a person born in a given country would live if mortality rates at each age were to remain constant in the future. The life expectancy is shown separately for males and females, as well as a combined figure. Several non-sovereign entities are also included in this list.

The figures reflect the quality of healthcare in the countries listed as well as other factors including ongoing wars, obesity, and HIV infections.[citation needed]

Worldwide, the average life expectancy at birth was 71.0 years (68.5 years for males and 73.5 years for females) over the period 2010–2013 according to United Nations World Population Prospects 2012 Revision,[3] or 70.7 years (68.2 years for males and 73.2 years for females) for 2009 according to The World Factbook.[4] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), women on average live longer than men in all countries, except in Tonga.

The countries with the lowest overall life expectancies per the WHO are Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Somalia, Swaziland, Angola, Chad, Mali, Burundi, Cameroon, and Mozambique. Of those countries, only Lesotho, Swaziland, and Mozambique in 2011 were suffering from an HIV prevalence rate of greater than 10 percent in the 15–49 age group.[5]

Comparing life expectancies from birth across countries can be problematic. There are differing definitions of live birth vs stillbirth even among more developed countries and less developed countries often have poor reporting.[6]

List from the "GBD 2010" study

The Global Burden of Disease 2010 study published updated figures in 2012,[8] including recalculations of life expectancies[9] which differ substantially in places from the UN estimates for 2010 (reasons for this are discussed in the freely available appendix to the paper, pages 25–27, currently not available). Although no estimate is given for the sexes combined, for the first time life expectancy estimates have included uncertainty intervals.